London
The Astoria
5/13/2003

Props to Barz, MissyW & Casper. Truly appreciated!

::Dynomite
::Song#1
::Dirty Life
::A Is For Action
::Alive
::Scream
::Let’s Talk Turkey
::Philosophofee (a.k.a. Everybody Fucks)
::Black Jettas
::12=3 (Here Come The Doctors)
::Here Come The Bombs

Soho holds a tragic curse of six pound drinks and causing me a painfully difficult time typing this recap of the Astoria show.

What a different feel the Astoria holds. Even before the band took the stage there appeared to be a very conducive atmosphere for the Ima Robot to win over many new fans.

Out of the gate was Dynomite and it seemed to do the trick as many in the audience were instantaneously curious as to Ima Robot. One fan related his instant liking of the band to the “terrifying” bass licks from JMJ; draconian was nearby with fliers and stickers in hand to let the soon to be fans know about the soon to be Metro show so I’m sure will see many of the Blur fans at the Metro show.

The rest of the set was solid and tightly knit and is sure to win over many a fan in the U.K. who hopefully will benefit from a release of a United Kingdom EP, which some may call Stomping On Eggshells and others as Public Access. If you are in the United Kingdom remember the name Public Access. Song#1 falls into the second spot and Dirty Life 3rd.

Becoming a Ima Robot classic; Let’s Talk Turkey, A Is For Action, Alive and Scream followed. This was a very powerful set and A Is For Action really had people hooked. Powerful backing vocals really brought the song to life.

Interestingly, Philosophofee was put into the mix. Album bound?

How ironic that my ex-girlfriend has a Black Jetta; This song is so very true in California; Is this just a California thing? Will it reign supreme in the U.K.? Feels so Orange County, but will have to wait and see if the U.K. crowd catches on to the power that the Black Jetta has in Southern California culture. I can see the Volkswagen ads already.

The set ended with Here Come The Bombs; foreshadowing future Ima Robot hits?

Ima Robot was completely on base and played a powerful set to a very receptive audience.


[Edited on 14-5-2003 by Phobiac]

Thanks for all of the great details - sounds like a super-solid, superb show

Now, would you be so kind as to fill me in on the cultural icon status of the"Black Jetta?"

Ah, my new strategy of asking a crowd of people what they thought of the band before handing them an IMA Robot stickers may be a good one. I was able to illicit some cool observations about their performance and thereby better gauge audience response. As difficult as it is for me to divorce myself from my own biased opinion, I’ll try to relate some of those comments here:

My favorite comment (and the one already mentioned by Phobiac) – “The bass player was producing this terrifying rhythm.”

From 4 out of every 5 people I seemed to meet – “I thought they were wicked, who are they?” Nice to hear that the East Coast no longer has a stranglehold on “wicked!”

“They’re not American.” – Surprisingly, many of those in the audience continued the French trend of finding it hard to believe that IMA Robot sprung from the U.S. Which begs the question (uh oh, here comes some of the dreaded Drac commentary), is a U.K. launch the best way to release this band to the masses? I was thinking about this last night after the show, and came to the conclusion that, although IMA Robot does have that European vibe stringing its way through their music, it comes out of a filter that developed from American interpretation of the sound coming from over the Atlantic in the late 70s and early to mid 80s…and that’s something that a huge number of U.S. fans can identify with. I know that’s why I love this band so much—you hear all the influences from bands you grew up with, but interpreted in a completely novel way. I wonder if being a part of that same filter sets up American audiences for being capable of a different type of understanding of this band, something that might be missing in a U.K. launch?

“Where has this band come from?”

“They were so powerful.” – This one was paraphrased by a couple of kids. Phobiac and I agreed that this was one of IMA Robot’s best performances (though I still maintain that the Viper Room show in May of 2002 is hard to beat), and we could tell from the moment they walked in that they were ready for the big one. They strode in with such a singleness of purpose prior to the gig, we knew that they were going to be on that night.

“Everyone was giving everything they had.” – Again, the backing vocals from JMJ and Tim were super-crisp and added a new undercurrent of urgency to the songs. It’s funny how such a small addition can increase the energy of a song by two or threefold. Everyone was giving that extra effort, it appeared, for an audience second only to Coachella in terms of number of people in attendance for an IMA Robot performance.

I think I covered most of the audience commentary. While adding more than enough of my own. Thanks again to those who were able to set this one up. It was great being in the thick of things with a crowd of Brit Rock fans…can’t wait for the day IMA Robot fills a club with 2000 screaming kids who know all the words to their songs!

p.s. Black Jetta is really really good. It’s the one IMA Robot song you can envision Tom Jones doing a lounge lizard cover of in ten years. Now I know why this is rumored to be on the EP. It really is an instant classic.

Their confidence seems to be growing with each performance, as reported by drac and Phob. It's a steamroller, baby

However, I am still confused about what a black Jetta stands for as some sort of cultural signpost. I would love to be "in" on this one, as the next time I see one, I can appropriately scowl or whatever it is I would do based on what it actually means :duh:

poor JJJ!
We keep meaning to elaborate on Black Jetta, but internet time is at a premium here The thing with the song is it has the repeated lyrics "Ex girlfriend, Black Jetta," and delineates the cult of materialistic golddigging exhibited by a certain type of early 20s girl - it;s a bit like the black tiny backpack thing. It is a common car for sorta snotty gorgeous material gals...and Neuwave, doesn;t he drive one? The exception to the rule I guess.

Neuwave's is blue, so I'm sure no offense is taken..:D

Don't worry Jo, I didn't know that either

Thanks! I figured the explanation would be along those lines, so I was correct in assuming my scowl would work

And draconian - excellent post-concert interviews . You should tape a couple of those and use them for a radio or online promo.

Jersey, that's a good idea. The taped interview thing. I think we're going to put together some sort of montage with photos and other media from the shows, maybe by next weekend.

The other thing about Black Jettas--they supplanted the White Cabriolet, which in the late 80s and early 90s was the big sorority girl-type car.